We have seen in Chap.  5 that a (continuous-time) dynamical system can be viewed as a system of 1 \(\textrm{st}\) order ODEs. The latter define a vector field on the phase spacePhasespace. It is often the case that the vector field depends continuously on one or more ‘control’ parametersControl parameter such as coupling constantsCoupling constant or interaction strengths, masses of particles, material constants or growth rates. Furthermore, the nature of the dynamics may change significantly as these parameters are varied.